Deep-sea sponges may stem the antibiotic-resistance crisis: Bacteria in the marine life fight off the deadly MRSA superbug
- Out of 50 sponges, more than half contain ‘good bacteria’ that fight bugs
- These bugs include the life-threatening hospital-related infection C.difficile
- Past research suggests antibiotics buried in soil may curb the resistance crisis
- Experts have warned antibiotic resistance poses ‘as big a risk as terrorism’
- Resistance crisis is thought to have been driven by overprescribing
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Deep-sea sponges could stem the antibiotic resistance crisis, new research suggests.
Out of 50 sponges, more than half contain so-called ‘good bacteria’ that fight off life-threatening infections such as the notoriously difficult-to-treat superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and C.difficile, a study found.
Study author Dr Guojun Wang, from Florida Atlantic University, said: ‘We found that deep-sea microorganisms are an attractive, untapped source for the discovery of anti-infective agents.’
This comes after research released earlier this year suggested antibiotics buried in soil may curb the resistance crisis.
Experts have previously warned antibiotic resistance poses ‘as big a risk as terrorism’.
A lack of new drugs combined with overprescribing is thought to have driven antibiotic resistance, which, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), ‘has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country.’
Deep-sea sponges could stem the antibiotic-resistance crisis, new research suggests (stock)
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WHAT IS ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE?
Antibiotics have been doled out unnecessarily by GPs and hospital staff for decades, fueling once harmless bacteria to become superbugs.
The World Health Organization has previously warned if nothing is done the world was headed for a ‘post-antibiotic’ era.
It claimed common infections, such as chlamydia, will become killers without immediate answers to the growing crisis.
Bacteria can become drug resistant when people take incorrect doses of antibiotics, or they are given out unnecessarily.
Chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies claimed in 2016 that the threat of antibiotic resistance is as severe as terrorism.
Figures estimate that superbugs will kill ten million people each year by 2050, with patients succumbing to once harmless bugs.
Around 700,000 people already die yearly due to drug-resistant infections including tuberculosis (TB), HIV and malaria across the world.
Concerns have repeatedly been raised that medicine will be taken back to the ‘dark ages’ if antibiotics are rendered ineffective in the coming years apothekegenerika.de.
In addition to existing drugs becoming less effective, there have only been one or two new antibiotics developed in the last 30 years.
In September, the World Health Organisation warned antibiotics are ‘running out’ as a report found a ‘serious lack’ of new drugs in the development pipeline.
Without antibiotics, caesarean sections, cancer treatments and hip replacements would also become incredibly ‘risky’, it was said at the time.
How the research was carried out
The researchers collected sea sponges from the east coast of the US, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, as well as European and African deep waters over 30 years.
This sponge collection contained more than 1,000 strains of good bacteria, some of which can be produced in the lab.
Fifty of these strains were screened against pathogens known to cause hospital-related infections, such as S. aureus.
‘Marine products represent an attractive source of anti-infective agents’
Results further suggest one of the bacterial strains found in certain sea sponges is more effective at killing C.difficle than the go-to antibiotic vancomycin.
Vancomycin can cause serious allergic reactions, low blood pressure, wheezing and rashes. S.aureus strains are increasingly resistant to the antibiotic.
Study author Dr Peter McCarthy added: ‘Marine natural products represent an increasingly attractive source of new anti-infective agents.’
‘We are working to identify additional new chemicals and test their activity and mode of action with the ultimate goal to identify potent drug leads from marine microbes.’
The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.
How serious is the antibiotic resistance crisis?
Professor Sean Brady, from The Rockefeller University, New York, said: ‘Despite the wide availability of antibiotics, infectious diseases remain a leading cause of death worldwide.
‘In the absence of new therapies, mortality rates due to untreatable infections are predicted to rise more than tenfold by 2050.’
The WHO has also classified antimicrobial resistance as a ‘serious threat’ to every region of the world.
Penicillin, the first and most famous antibiotic, was discovered by the Scottish microbiologist Alexander Fleming in 1928.
Fleming’s discovery allowed doctors to treat and cure infected patients, saving millions of lives.
Yet, less than a century after Fleming’s discovery, there are precious few antibiotics left and many superbugs are already resistant to all of them.
Figures suggest up to 50,000 people die each year due to antibiotic-resistant infections in Europe and the US alone.
Globally, at least 700,000 people pass away annually due to antibiotic-resistance complications from illnesses such as malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis.
Experts have previously warned antibiotic resistance poses ‘as big a risk as terrorism’ (stock)
New antibiotic has literally been unearthed
This comes after research suggested that, for the first time in 30 years, a new type of antibiotic has been unearthed, buried in dirt.
Experiments suggest the antibiotic family, known as malacidins, can kill several ‘superbugs’, including MRSA.
The antibiotics’ unique approach to killing pathogens targets bacteria’s cell walls, which did not cause drug resistance in the laboratory, a study by The Rockefeller University, New York, found.
When tested on MRSA skin infections in rats, the rodents experienced no side effects, giving the researchers hope they may have discovered a non-toxic alternative to current antibiotics.
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